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Bad
start to the year in Zimbabwe with three journalists arrested and
the Daily News still banned
Reporters
sans frontières (RSF)
January 12, 2004
Three journalists
from the Zimbabwe Independent, including the managing editor, were
arrested by police in Harare on 10 January, accused of insulting
President Robert Mugabe.
"The
year 2004 opened in the worst possible way for press freedom in
Zimbabwe. Three journalists have already been arrested and police
are still preventing the Daily News for reappearing despite a
high court ruling in its favour," said Robert Ménard,
secretary general of Reporters Without Borders.
"The
government no longer even respects the decisions of the courts.
We are extremely concerned about the working conditions for Zimbabwe
journalists and call on the authorities to pull back. The people
have the right to diverse and independent news and information,"
he added.
Iden Wetherell,
managing editor of the Zimbabwe Independent, one of the two
private weeklies in the country, and two of his journalists, Vincent
Kahiya and Dumisani Muleya, were arrested on 10 January
and taken to a police station in Harare. Police are reportedly still
seeking a fourth journalist, Idai Dzamera.
They are all
accused of publishing an article that was "insulting"
to the head of state. The Zimbabwe Independent had reported that
President Mugabe took a plane belonging to the national carrier
Air Zimbabwe for his holidays in Asia, resulting in loss of earnings
to the public company of three billion Zimbabwe dollars (about 3
million euros).
Elsewhere, the
high court ruled on 9 January that the Daily News could resume
publishing but police said they had not received any such instructions
and refused to reopen the newspaper's print works, preventing it
from reappearing.
The following
day, the state national daily The Herald reported that the
authorities planned to appeal against the high court decision.
Reporters Without
Borders - International secretariat
5 rue Geoffroy-Marie
75009 Paris
France
Phone : 33 1 44 83 84 84
Fax : 33 145 23 11 51
www.rsf.org / index@rsf.org
--
Reporters sans frontières
Bureau Afrique - Africa desk
afrique@rsf.org, africa@rsf.org
www.rsf.org
Tel : 33 1 44 83 84 84
Fax : 33 1 45 23 11 51
5, rue Geoffroy-Marie
75009 Paris
FRANCE
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